Martin Luther to All Christians, but Especially to All Pastors and Preachers, that They Should Daily Exercise Themselves in the Catechism, which is a Short Summary and Epitome of the Entire Holy Scriptures, and that They May Always Teach the Same. Well, this, too, is indeed a sure sign that they despise both their office and the souls of the people, yea, even God and His Word.
PART FIRST
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
Learn, therefore, from these words how angry God is with those who trust in anything but Him, and again, how good and gracious He is to those who trust and believe in Him alone with the whole heart; so that His anger does not cease until the fourth generation, while, on the other hand, His blessing and goodness extend to many. David, on the other hand, was a poor, despised man, hunted down and chased, so that he nowhere felt secure of his life; yet he had to remain in spite of Saul, and become king.
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT
For when saying: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God, in vain, He gives us to understand at the same time that it is to be used properly. Hence it is a natural inference, since using the holy name for falsehood or wickedness is here forbidden, that we are, on the.
THE THIRD COMMANDMENT
But God’s Word is the treasure which sanctifies everything, and by which even all the saints themselves were sanctified. Therefore you must always have God’s Word in your heart, upon your lips, and in your ears.
THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT
Now, what a child owes to father and mother, the same owe all who are embraced in the household. For although this is not expressed in the Ten Commandments, it is nevertheless abundantly enjoined in many places in the Scriptures.
THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
So also, if you see any one innocently sentenced to death or in like distress, and do not save him, although you know ways and means to do so, you have killed him. And it will not avail you to make the pretext that you did not afford any help, counsel, or aid thereto for you have withheld your love from him and deprived him of the benefit whereby his life would have been saved. For although you have not actually done all this, you have nevertheless, so far as you were concerned, suffered him to pine and perish in misfortune.
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
Married life is therefore no jest or presumption; but it is an excellent thing and a matter of divine seriousness. Therefore it is not a peculiar estate, but the most common and noblest estate, which pervades all Christendom, yea which extends through all the world. Now, I speak of this in order that the young may be so guided that they conceive a liking for the married estate, and know that it is a blessed estate and pleasing to God.
THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
But let them know that in the sight of God they are the greatest thieves, and that He will punish them as they are worthy and deserve. We will indeed look on and let these people skin, pinch, and hoard, but we will trust in God — who will, however, do this of His own accord, — that, after you have been skinning and scraping for a long time, He will pronounce such a blessing on your gains that your grain in the garner, your beer in the cellar, your cattle in the stalls shall perish; yea, where you have cheated and. And briefly, in a summary, as in the former commandments, it is herewith forbidden, in the first place, to do our neighbor any injury or wrong (in whatever manner supposable, by curtailing, forestalling, and withholding his possessions and property), or even to consent or allow such a thing, but to interpose and prevent it.
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
But let this pass; for it is the way of the blind world that she condemns and persecutes the truth and the children of God, and yet esteems it no sin. For here necessity requires one to speak of the evil, to prefer charges, to investigate and testify; and it is not different from. As Christ also says in the same place: If he hear thee, thou host gained thy brother.
THE NINTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS
Now, this occurs most frequently in cases that are brought into court, where it is the purpose to get something from our neighbor and to force him out of his own. But it is not a rare thing with us that one estranges or alienates another’s man-servant or maid- servant, or entices them away by flattering words. Therefore we allow these commandments to remain in their ordinary meaning, that it is commanded, first, that we do not desire our neighbor’s damage, nor even assist, nor give occasion for it, but gladly wish and leave him what he has, and, besides, advance and preserve for him what may be for his profit and service, as we should wish to be treated.
CONCLUSION OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
For where there is a heart thus disposed towards God, the same has fulfilled this and all the other commandments. Thus the First Commandment is to shine and impart its splendor to all the others. Thus continuing through all the following commandments towards our neighbor likewise, everything is to proceed by virtue of the First.
PART SECOND
OF THE CREED
If you are asked: What do you mean by the words: I believe in the Holy Ghost. Behold, all this is to be the office and work of the Holy Ghost, that He begin and daily increase holiness upon earth by means of these two things, the Christian Church and the forgiveness of sin. But of Christ we could know nothing either, unless it had been revealed by the Holy Ghost.
PART THIRD
OF PRAYER
And it has been prescribed also for this reason that we should see and consider the distress which ought to urge and compel us to pray without ceasing. Therefore it is to serve also to remind us of the same, that we contemplate it and lay it to heart, lest we become remiss in prayer. For we all have enough that we lack, but the great want is that we do not feel nor see it.
THE FIRST PETITION
Thus you see that in this petition we pray just for that which God demands in the Second Commandment; namely, that His name be not taken in vain to swear, curse, lie, deceive, etc., but be usefully employed to the praise and honor of God. Thus this point is easy and clear if only the language is understood, that to hallow is the same as in our idiom to praise, magnify, and honor both in word and deed. Likewise also for ourselves who have the Word of God, but are not thankful for it, nor live as we ought according to the same.
THE SECOND PETITION
Therefore we pray here in the first place that this may become effective with us, and that His name be so praised through the holy Word of God and a Christian life that both we who have accepted it may abide and daily grow therein, and that it may gain approbation and adherence among other people and proceed with power throughout the world, that many may find entrance into the Kingdom of Grace, be made partakers of redemption, being led thereto by the Holy Ghost, in order that thus we may all together remain forever in the one kingdom now begun. For the coming of God’s Kingdom to us occurs in two ways; first, here in time through the Word and faith; and secondly, in eternity forever through revelation. All this is the fault of the shameful unbelief which does not look to God for as much good as will satisfy the stomach, much less expects without doubt such eternal treasures of God.
THE THIRD PETITION
For how could He allow us to suffer want and to be straitened in temporal things when He promises that which is eternal and imperishable. Now, this hurts our flesh and the old Adam; for the test is to be steadfast and to suffer with patience in whatever way we are assailed, and to let go whatever is taken from us. This consolation and confidence we have, that the will and purpose of the devil and of all our enemies shall and must fail and come to naught, however proud, secure, and powerful they know themselves to be.
THE FOURTH PETITION
Behold, thus we have in these three petitions, in the simplest manner, the need which relates to God Himself, yet all for our sakes. To comprise it briefly, this petition includes everything that belongs to our entire life in the world, because on that account alone do we need daily bread. This we must suffer indeed; but let them take care that they do not lose the common intercession, and beware lest this petition in the Lord’s Prayer be against them.
THE FIFTH PETITION
For since the flesh in which we daily live is of such a nature that it neither trusts nor believes God, and is ever active in evil lusts and devices, so that we sin daily in word and deed, by commission and omission by which the. He has promised that we shall be sure that everything is forgiven and pardoned, yet in the manner that we also forgive our neighbor. And it is especially given for this purpose, that we might use and practise it every hour, as a thing that we have with us at all times.
THE SIXTH PETITION
For while we live in the flesh and have the devil about us, no one can escape temptation and allurements; and it cannot be otherwise than that we must endure trials, yea, be engulfed in them; but we pray for this, that we may not fall and be drowned in them. Therefore we Christians must be armed and daily expect to be incessantly attacked, in order that no one may go on in security and heedlessly, as though the devil were far from us, but at all times expect and parry his blows. Else if you venture to help yourself by your own thoughts and counsel, you will only make the matter worse and give the devil more space.
THE SEVENTH AND LAST PETITION
For he has a serpent’s head, which if it gain an opening into which he can slip, the whole body will follow without check. It is, therefore, a pernicious delusion of those who pray in such a manner that they dare not from the heart say yea and positively conclude that God hears them, but remain in doubt and say, How should I be so bold as to boast that God hears my prayer. James says [1, 6]: But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed.
PART FOURTH
OF BAPTISM
Therefore although it is performed by human hands, it is nevertheless truly God’s own work. But when it is added, as God has ordained, it is a Sacrament, and is called Christ-baptism. Thus faith clings to the water, and believes that it is Baptism, in which there is pure salvation and life; not through the water (as we have sufficiently stated), but through the fact that it is embodied in the Word and institution of God, and the name of God inheres in it.
PART FIFTH
OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR
It is the Word (I say) which makes and distinguishes this Sacrament, so that it is not mere bread and wine, but is, and is called, the body and blood of Christ. But if the words remain with them as they shall and must, then, in virtue of the same, it is truly the body and blood of Christ. For herein you have both truths, that it is the body and blood of Christ, and that it is yours as a treasure and gift.
CONCLUSION
But if you wish to be a Christian, you must from time to time render satisfaction and obedience to this commandment. And if you find that to be the case, then go, for your good, to St. If you are in the world, do not think that there will be lack of sins and misery.
